A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

The wholesale warehouses and factory 2 were on both sides of Second and John Streets. Most of thefurniture manufacturers were clustered around Second Street where they were close to lumberyards,railroads and river transportation. Mitchell & Rammelsberg had the largest furniture factory in the world.All the footage of showrooms and the factories amounted to five acres. By splitting the locations ofvarious stages in the manufacturing process, the danger from a fire was minimized. There were 80 woodworking, steam driven machines. In the 1870’s, 750 men were employed. The lumber yard alone coveredtwo acres.According the Charles Cist (1851): Mitchell & Rammelsberg are about to introduce a bedstead ofnovel construction, for which they have the exclusive manufacturing right in this market. Theimprovement made is by connecting the rail to the post by a dovetail, thus dispensing entirely withscrews, and enabling the bedstead to be put up and taken down in less than five minutes; which of course,affords great facilities to the removal of this article from house to house, or room to room, and of readilytaking them out in case of fire.Kenny’s Illustrated Cincinnati, 1875, states: “The retail salesrooms are well worth visiting. Thetraveler will probably not see in any city in Europe or America such a rare collection of fine articles onthe furniture line as may be seen on the second floor of the establishment on Forth Street. The firmimports costly works of art, which are distributed through their rooms. They manufacture furniture for‘the million,’ from the commonest table and chair to the finest suites for parlor, drawing room, library,bedroom, or dining room that can be furnished. Robert Mitchell, President; A. H. Mitchell, Secretary andTreasurer.”The retail showrooms were in the six story Mitchell Company building on West Fourth Street,designed in 1873 by James Keys Wilson in the popular Renaissance Revival style. Wilson was also thearchitect for the Plum Street Temple and the entrance gate for Spring Grove Cemetery. The MitchellCompany building is still standing as the central portion of the late McAlpin’s store on Fourth street. Thissection is marked by the stone carving of a woman’s head surmounting an arch. When the building wasconstructed, its next door neighbor was John Shillito’s dry goods store. When Mitchell first came intoCincinnati, he helped to dig the foundation for the Second Presbyterian Church, which was the site of hisnew furniture showroom.The Fourth Street store had the latest innovations. An elevator carried shoppers from floor to floorand merchandise was displayed in sample room settings. A complete line of accessories was available soa customer could choose new curtains, mattresses and even fireplace mantels at the same time. Theirlargest consumers were other businesses, including hotels and banks.In 1870 an industry census lists annual sales as $700,000. The 600 employees (550 men, 10 women,40 children) made furniture from three million feet of lumber.Rammelsberg died in 1863, at age 49, a wealthy man. Frederick had a brother, Ernest, who alsomanufactured chairs and another brother, William, who owned a farm. They also had a sister, FrancisJucksch. Frederick and Sarah Maria (nee Lape) had eight children: Catherine (married Charles Schultz),Charles married Rhoda Thomson), Sarah Maria (married Robert Johnson), Emma (married HarryReinmund), Oscar (married Kate Wheat), Henry who never married, Laura Elizabeth never lived toadulthood, and Clara Louise (married Albert D. Shockley). Catherine and Charles Schultz had three boyswhile they lived in Cincinnati and one son later while they were living in Germany.Although Mitchell bought out the Rammelsberg shares, he kept the partnership name until 1881. Thefocus of the firm changed then to emphasize store interiors, architectural elements and office furniture.Mitchell died in 1899 and the business, then known as the Robert Mitchell Furniture Company, declined.The Mitchell’s Augusta and John street radio construction plant burned in a spectacular 1938 fire. Thefirm went out of business in 1940.One of the finest collections of Mitchell & Rammelsberg furniture is the Abram Gaar house instadium.2 This building, built ca 1849, was lately the Old Spaghetti Factory, 417 Pete Rose Way and was torn down for the new Paul Brown126